The second round of the UAAP Season 85 men’s basketball tournament is set to begin this weekend, with the Final Four spots up for grabs in the coming weeks.
As things currently stand, the race for those coveted playoff berths has been tight. Defending champion UP leads the way with six wins and is just around three wins away from formally securing a Final Four slot. Ateneo and NU aren’t far behind with five wins each, while we have a three-way tie for fourth place among Adamson, UE, and DLSU. FEU is also potentially threatening at just a game behind those teams, while UST still has a mathematical chance of making it (if they sweep the second round).
Before round two of hostilities begins, however, let’s look at each team a bit closer and answer the biggest question they have to face for the remainder of Season 85.
Adamson: Can the Soaring Falcons finish strong?
The Soaring Falcons have flown up and down this season, and they have a front-loaded round two schedule. They face Ateneo this weekend followed by UP. In all likelihood, Adamson will go 3-6 next week, so they need to finish strong.
If they can sweep their last five assignments in S85, they have a decent shot of making it to the Final Four. If not, however, then a 7-7 or worse record might not cut it. Yes, that doesn’t leave a big room for error, but it is what it is.
Ateneo: Are Dave Ildefonso and BJ Andrade ready to be true leaders?
When Ateneo finished the first round with a win over UE, coach Tab Baldwin mentioned that he needed cousins Dave Ildefonso and BJ Andrade to be more vocal leaders on the floor. They’re among the most seasoned veterans on the squad, so that makes perfect sense.
Both guys seem to prefer to lead by example. They let their games do the talking, but without guys like SJ Belangel, Gian Mamuyac, and Tyler Tio, the onus by default falls on Dave and BJ to take on those roles. The issue for this squad has not been production as much as it has been leadership. If the Eagles are going to reclaim their title, that’s the true x-factor.
La Salle: Can the Green Archers achieve any sort of consistency?
Ask any DLSU fan right now how they/he/she feels about the Archers’ round one performance and chances are you’ll be met with frustration. Schonny Winston has been a super scorer, Evan Nelle has been a super playmaker, and Mike Phillips has been a super double-double machine. They also hung around against UP and upended Ateneo.
And yet, this is a team that lost to UE, NU, and Adamson — all of which are teams in the thick of the F4 race. Inconsistency has been the team’s identity, and that is their biggest question mark for the second round. They are good enough to sweep their next seven games, but they’re also so inconsistent that they can just as well lose a majority of them.
FEU: Is this team peaking?
This question may be a bit strange given FEU’s win-loss record, but remember that there are only three teams who ended the first round with win streaks. Those are UP, Ateneo, and yes, FEU.
Their first three assignments in the second round are going to be extremely crucial — UE, DLSU, and NU. If FEU can beat all those teams, which they are more than capable of doing, then they can shoot up to as high as third place. If they lose around two of those games, they’re on the verge of missing the Final Four altogether.
Having said that, there are good signs for this team. LJ Gonzales seems to be hitting his stride, while JB Sajonia has been a terrific revelation. The time for Patrick Sleat to carry the offense has passed, so Gonzales, Sajonia, and even Xyrus Torres have to take over. Also, if Patrick Tchuente’s great round-one-ending performance is any indication, then things could be looking up for FEU.
NU: Is the sizzle gone from Sampaloc?
At one point this season, NU was the hottest team in the league, stringing together five straight wins. However, they finished round one with a whimper, losing to FEU in the lowest-scoring game of the season.
That begs the question of whether the sizzle and excitement are gone from the Bulldogs. Yes, we know that this is a very well-coached team with a balanced roster. Nobody scores more than 11.1 points per game on this squad, though they have six guys scoring seven or more per game.
That could be an Achilles’ Heel, though. The UAAP is a league where teams are only as good as their best player. If NU’s best player is Jake Figueroa, does that make them an F4 team? We’re not sure.
UE: Are they mentally tough enough?
After going 0-14 last season, the Red Warriors find themselves in unfamiliar territory vying for a Final Four spot. They face FEU and UST to tip off the second round, so they have a solid chance of going up 5-4 before facing UP.
Having said that, one big intangible for this team is whether they are mentally ready for the extremely important battles ahead. They have the size and skill to compete, but with the F4 on the line, will they be in the right mind space to get the job done?
We love how Luis Villegas and the Paranada bros. have performed, but remember that UE has not made it to a Final Four since 2009. That’s a helluva lot of history and pressure for a young team. Let’s see how they will respond.
UP: Will the champs hold the fort?
At 6-1, it’s easy to say that UP has been dominant, but have they really?
Of their six wins, UP only had one double-digit win, and let’s not forget that they lost to NU, too. They have been far from invincible, but the great thing is that when they get on the hot seat, they can finish and deliver (most of the time).
Also, remember that they have had JD Cagulangan for only one game, and they didn’t have Goldwyn Monteverde on the bench when they lost to NU. At full strength, this is still the best team in the field. Can they hold the fort as they wait for a fully healthy Cagulangan and the other teams aim to dethrone them? Yeah, I think so.
UST: What’s the future of this program?
This isn’t a question for round two but more so for the future. If you’re privy to UST’s social media, then you may have seen a lot of posts calling for sweeping changes to their MBT program. We don’t know if that will have any effect at all, but it’s a clear sign of a certain level of unrest in their fanbase.
It doesn’t help that they’ve been somewhat predictable this season, and though we’d like to believe coach Bal David when he says he’ll change some things in round two, we’re not holding our breaths.
The key issue for UST is not really about its competitiveness. It’s more existential. What is this team’s identity? What is its future? In a season where they lost a good number of marquee names before the tournament even began, how can this program recover? More importantly, how can they restore the faith of their fans?
